Apples – The American Fruit

  • Post published:10/26/2015
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Ralph Waldo Emerson called apples the American fruit. Certainly the legend of Leominster-born Johnny Appleseed, once an orchardist and later a traveler on the frontier planting apples, is one of our favorite American stories. However, archeologists have found European fossil evidence of apples growing in prehistoric times. Apples had a long history before they ever made it to America. These early apples were actually very tiny crab apples. Evolution carried on its slow work over the eons. The…

Carefree Peonies – Lush Glamour

  • Post published:10/19/2015
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Herbaceous peonies are the most glamorous flowers in my garden, so lush and big, and pink, of course. I have planted mostly late varieties so that they will still have some bloom when the roses begin to bloom. That way, if for any reason, the roses are not doing what I want them to be doing on the last Sunday in June, the peonies will delight visitors who have come to the Annual Rose Viewing. You might have…

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day – a day late

  • Post published:10/16/2015
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I am a day late with Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, but yesterday was spent moving the last big items from Heath to our new house and garden in Greenfield. This post records what little is in bloom in Heath on my last Heath bloom day and what is in bloom in my very unfinished garden in Heath.  Heath Garden These autumn crocus still blooming in all their weedy glory. They are in a bad spot for display -…

Chinese and Japanese Gardens at the Huntington

  • Post published:10/12/2015
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  In my youth I thought Chinese and Japanese gardens were very similar. Over the years I have learned how wrong I was. Both concentrate on bringing the gardener – and visitors – into nature. With the Chinese it is a wilder nature, intended for strolling, visiting and sharing with friends. For the Japanese the garden is more stylized with carefully pruned trees and shrubs that can be admired from inside a sheltered spot. There are many ways…

Rain Management with Hugelkultur

  • Post published:10/07/2015
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  Learning how to harvest rain and manage water use is an urgent topic in California where I have been visiting, but it is a big topic for all of us. It is important for us all to manage our use of that precious resource – water. My husband Henry and I have been visiting friends. We have also been visiting wonderful gardens like the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanical Garden, and the Huntington Library, Art Collections,…

Fallscaping – Color and Bloom in Autumn

  • Post published:10/03/2015
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Fallscaping is a way of thinking about our autumnal landscape. After the heat and riotous color of the summer garden, things can start to look a little tired, but we can include plantings that will bring fresh color and life to our landscape even as the days grow shorter. As we enter the autumnal season we can take advantage of the color changes among the plants we already have. Do we have trees like kousa dogwoods whose foliage…

Blood Moon Eclipse on Wordless Wednesday

  • Post published:09/30/2015
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On September 27, 2015 there was a rare eclipse of the super 'blood moon'. On that night the moon was at its perigee, the closest it gets to the earth which makes it look larger when it rises. Fortunately the blood moon eclipse took place before my bedtime. This was taken at about 10 pm EST. As the eclipse drew near to totality, the 'blood' became apparent. This was nearly 10:30 pm EST. It has been quite a…

Million Pollinator Garden Challenge

  • Post published:09/27/2015
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  Most of us know that pollinators are important. Without pollinators many of the ordinary foods we eat would not be available. We hear about Colony Collapse Disorder which affects honey bees, but there are thousands of other types of bee and many other insect and animal pollinators including bats. These pollinators are also dying. What to do? This past June the National Pollinator Garden Network (NPGN), an amazing collaboration of gardening and conservation organizations, launched the Million…

Bloom Day September 2015 – Here and There

  • Post published:09/15/2015
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Bloom Day in Heath Bloom Day in Heath has wild asters and cultivated asters and autumn is in full swing. The photo above shows a tangle of Japanese anemone 'Robustissima', annual cosmos and Achillea The Pearl. But there is more. I will let dependable the Thomas Affleck roses that are blooming less floriferously - The Fairy, the Meidelland roses, and Champlain, one of the Explorer roses.   I couldn't resist including this photo of a surprise foxglove -…

Made in the Shade Garden

  • Post published:09/12/2015
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Julie Abramson now lives with a graceful shade garden, but it was not always so. Like so many of us, Julie never had much interest in her mother’s garden when she was young, but over the years she has tended three very different gardens of her own. Her first garden in Albany was cheerful. “I was inexperienced, but this garden was very floriferous. I knew nothing about trees and shrubs,” she told me as we sat admiring her…